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PrintBy MIKE VINSON
The trial of George Zimmerman began on June 10, 2013. Zimmerman had been charged with manslaughter and second-degree murder charges for the fatal shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, FL, February 26, 2012. July 13, 2013, a jury of six women, five white and one Hispanic, acquitted Zimmerman of the aforementioned charges.
A short overview:
The Retreat at Twin Lakes is a 260-unit gated town home community in Sanford, Florida. Due to numerous calls to police, stemming from a variety of alleged crimes, Twin Lakes residents held an organizational meeting in September 2011 to create a neighborhood watch program, and George Zimmerman, a resident of the Twin Lakes community, was elected as the program's "coordinator."
On the evening of Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman was running an "errand," via car, in the Twin Lakes neighborhood and noted a "suspicious person" wearing a "hoodie."
Zimmerman called in the sighting of the suspicious person to the Sanford Police Department. The suspicious person turned out to be Trayvon Martin, African American, who was visiting with relatives who resided in the Twin Lakes area.
All we know for sure are: At some point, there was a confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin, and a physical altercation between the two ensued. George Zimmerman was badly beaten and bloodied about the head by Trayvon Martin, while Martin, ultimately, was killed by a single 9mm shot to the chest, admittedly fired by Zimmerman.
The prosecution's theory was that Zimmerman was overly zealous, profiled Trayvon Martin with racial bias, and instigated the shooting death of the teenage man. The defense's stance was that Martin instigated the confrontation, was beating Zimmerman to the extent that Zimmerman rightfully feared for his life, and Zimmerman fired in self defense.
Quite honestly, I didn't watch enough of the trial, nor have I read enough about it, to state whether I think Zimmerman was guilty or innocent.
However, I have seen and read enough to comment that I think the prime time media, with all its coverage of the Zimmerman-Martin case, abused the almighty "race card" and is guilty of gross ignorance of the facts at hand, and arrogant to the point they think the public will buy off their "Let's get a superior rating any way we can" crap!
The thing that rubbed me the rawest was some anchors and race-baiting guests referring to Zimmerman as a "white Hispanic."
In filling out any official application form, have you ever seen a block/space for "white Hispanic"? Hell no, you haven't, for no such term exists for those with an I.Q. above retarded. When filling out such forms, the races/ethnic groups generally listed are: white/Caucasian, black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and sometimes American Indian.
George Zimmerman's mother is Hispanic (from Peru) and his father is white, thus the surname of Zimmerman. Obviously, someone felt the need to create a race of "white Hispanic" to turn the Zimmerman-Martin murder case into a racial issue.
For the sake of argument, let's say the parental roles were reversed, and George Zimmerman's mother was white, and his father was a Hispanic was the last name of Ortega. So, instead of George Zimmerman, you would have, say, Jorge Ortega.
How do you think the media would've handled Jorge Ortega vs. George Zimmerman? They probably wouldn't have handled it at all, because it would have been minority vs. minority and wouldn't have stirred enough public interest.
And by the way, the president of the United States is a man named Barack Obama. His mother is white, and his father is black. Have you ever heard anyone in the media refer to him as "black Caucasian"? I highly doubt it.
I mean, in all fairness, if we can have a white Hispanic, why not a black Caucasian?
My point is, we, the public, need to hold the collective media to a higher degree of accountability, plain and simple.
